Science Building
Recognized Federal Heritage Building
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Panorama
© Public Works and Government Services Canada / Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada, 2002.
Address :
210 George Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia
Recognition Statute:
Treasury Board Policy on Management of Real Property
Designation Date:
2002-08-15
Dates:
-
1966 to 1966
(Construction)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
Larson & Larson.
(Architect)
Custodian:
Public Works and Government Services Canada
FHBRO Report Reference:
01-061
Description of Historic Place
The Science Building is a symmetrical, brick-clad, two-storey, rectangular building that features a projecting central entrance pavilion, a low-sloped roof terminated by brick gables rising to large central chimneys, and large, multi-paned windows. The building shares its site with the Arts Building, and is located mid-block along George Street, in the northern section and oldest part of downtown Sydney. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.
Heritage Value
The Science Building is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.
Historical value:
The Science Building is associated with the significant expansion during the 1950s of post-secondary institutions, in particular the provision of academic training in under serviced regions. Part of the later phase of a planned “campus” of buildings begun by the Arts Building, it is also associated with the provision of support to the coal extraction and steel industries by the federal government through the research work undertaken by the Ottawa-based Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) which used the building during the 1980s and 1990s as a laboratory.
Architectural value:
The Science Building is a good example of late American Colonial Revival style. The revival aesthetic is reflected in the building’s symmetrical composition, the projecting central entrance pavilion, the central chimneys at the gable walls, the applied decorative millwork elements at the entrances, as well as in the non-historically correct placement of certain elements such as the doors under the chimneys at the gable ends which were incorporated to meet modern requirements.
Environmental value:
Located in the northern section of the downtown commercial core of Sydney, the Science Building shares its site with the matching Arts Building (built 1956), and was designed to incorporate elements that would reinforce the mixed institutional/residential character of the neighbourhood. Minor changes have not modified the open character of the building’s site.
Sources:
Edgar Tumak, Science Building, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office Building Report 01-061; Science Building, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Heritage Character Statement 01-061.
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Science Building should be respected.
The building’s American Colonial Revival style, successful functional plan, competent craftsmanship and good quality materials, as manifested in: the formal, symmetrical composition of the brick building, which consists of a rectangular plan, a projecting central entrance pavilion with pediment, evenly spaced large multi-paned windows, a continuous cornice, and a low-sloped gable roof with large brick chimneys rising from the gable ends; the use of applied Classical decorative millwork around the entrances, and consisting of pilasters, an entablature and a broken pediment; the location of entrances at the gable ends, and the use of over-scaled window openings, both of which reflect the functional requirements of this modern interpretation of the style; and, the good quality materials and craftsmanship exhibited in the exterior brickwork and millwork.
The manner in which the building reinforces the mixed residential / institutional character of the setting, as evidenced in: the compatible scale of the building vis-a-vis the neighbouring structures; and, its matching relationship with the Arts Building which creates the campus setting.
Heritage Character Statement
Disclaimer -
The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.